Police blasted over Tyrrell foster mother charge

William Tyrrell’s foster mother has been found not guilty of giving false evidence to the NSW Crime Commission after a judge ruled she had been questioned under extreme stress.

Three-year-old William Tyrrell wearing the Spider-Man suit in which he disappeared.

The foster mother of missing boy William Tyrrell has been found not guilty of giving false or misleading evidence to the powerful NSW Crime Commission after a magistrate hit out at the calculated tactics used by investigators to catch the woman unaware.

Following bombshell revelations by a senior detective – who claimed the foster mother knows the whereabouts of the three-year-old’s body – magistrate ­Miranda Moody accused police of taking deliberate steps to catch the woman by surprise before hauling her in front of the commission last November.

It took fewer than 30 minutes for Ms Moody to deliver her verdict on Friday in Sydney’s Downing Centre Court, while William’s foster mother, known only as SD, sat in the front row of the courtroom with close supporters.

Following a dramatic day of testimony, the senior magistrate ruled it could not be proven ­beyond reasonable doubt that SD provided false or misleading statements to the commission, noting that she was “clearly distressed” at the time of her questioning.

The foster mother of missing boy, William Tyrrell, leaves Downing Centre Courts. Picture: David Swift

Since being hauled before the commission, the foster mother has continued to deny knowing the whereabouts of William’s body, as well as allegations she hit a child (who is not William) with a wooden spoon.

On Thursday, the court heard an audio recording extracted from devices that captured the alleged incident with the child.

In the recording, a child can be heard screaming while a woman yells, “stand up, stand up”. The child is then heard saying “please” before a sound – similar to a smack – can be heard.

In a separate phone recording, SD is allegedly heard telling her husband she hit the child “really hard with that wooden spoon” just after he left the house, and that it would leave a welt on the child’s leg.

The court earlier heard details of how police confronted SD to say they had uncovered information that William had fallen from a balcony, and that she had disposed of his body.

“We know why, we know how, we know where he is,” ­Sergeant Scott Jamieson told SD when detectives approached her in October last year to deliver their summons.

“We aren’t guessing, we aren’t bluffing.

“We are saying we know what happened and why it happened and where (William’s body) is.”

In her judgment, Ms Moody said the foster mother was clearly “extremely distressed” at the time of her questioning at the commission.

She criticised the tactics police used to issue their summons to SD last year, telling the court the ­accused was “living a nightmare life” when she was compelled to give evidence before the commission.

“She had no notice of the allegation and deliberate steps were taken to ensure that she didn’t know what it was. There was only one way (for her) to answer,” Ms Moody said.

“Her mother had died and she had lost her child – namely William Tyrrell – and the transcript shows her distress regarding the fate of her missing child … (on) the second day of a gruelling hearing.

“Had she denied ever hitting or kicking (the child) … I might have taken a different view.

William Tyrrell.

However, given she made such prompt submissions to serious allegations contrary to her interests I cannot discount the possibility she was mistaken and did not deliberately lie when she asked that question.”

Outside the courtroom, the foster mother embraced former NSW detective Gary Jubelin, who has repeatedly defended the foster parents against suspicions they were responsible or party to ­William’s disappearance in 2014.

Mr Jubelin, who led the investigation for four years before quitting NSW police, launched a “covert operation” of the foster parents to understand if they were behind the boy’s disappearance. He later said it confirmed they were not involved.

Following the verdict, SD ­welcomed the magistrate’s judgment and urged police to “focus on finding William and what happened to him”.